


A Fast-Burning Flame

by dontletthevampiresbite



Series: my dream smp fics [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alexis | Quackity Needs a Hug, Alternative Perspective, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bad Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Best Friends, Blood Loss, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Canon Compliant, Canon Rewrite, Canonical Character Death, Cara | CaptainPuffy is Clay | Dream's Parent, Cara | CaptainPuffy-centric, Child Death, Claustrophobia, Clay | Dream Kills TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream Manipulates TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Dark, Dead TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Death, Depression, Dream SMP Ensemble Angst, Emotional Hurt, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Emptiness, Enemies, Established Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Explosions, Five Stages of Grief, Friendship, Fucked Up, Ghostbur, Graphic Description of Corpses, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Head Injury, Heavy Angst, Humanity, Hurt Alexis | Quackity, Hurt Karl Jacobs, Hurt Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Implied/Referenced Character Death, Injured TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Insane Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Insanity, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Jack Manifold Needs A Hug, Jack Manifold-centric, Major Character Injury, Manipulative Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Ghost Wilbur Soot, Mentioned Wilbur Soot, Mild Gore, Multi, Not sure how to feel, Numbness, Pain, Pandora's Vault Prison, Parent Cara | CaptainPuffy, Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Platonic Life Partners, Polyamory, Protective Cara | CaptainPuffy, Protective Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Protective Sam | Awesamdude, Ranboo & TommyInnit Friendship (Video Blogging RPF), Reactions to Death, Sad, Sad Alexis | Quackity, Sad Ending, Sad Parental Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Sad Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Sad Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Sad Toby Smith | Tubbo, Sam | Awesamdude-Centric, Sapnap Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Sapnap-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Sapnap/Karl Jacobs/Quackity, Scared Toby Smith | Tubbo, Scared TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Soft Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Suffering, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Toby Smith | Tubbo and TommyInnit are Siblings, TommyInnit death, TommyInnit is Not Okay (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Trapped, Traumatized Toby Smith | Tubbo, Traumatized Tommyinnit (Video Blogging RPF), Video: TOMMYINNIT IS DEAD - CRAB RAVE - [DREAM SMP], Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Villain Jack Manifold, Villain Niki | Nihachu, Violence, Warden Sam | Awesamdude, Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings, claustrophobic tommyinnit, dream is puffy's duckling, everyone reacts differently, everyone reacts to tommy's death, ghostinnit, it was too late, my interpretation based on canon, reactions to tommy's death, tommyinnit dies canonically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29844120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontletthevampiresbite/pseuds/dontletthevampiresbite
Summary: Everything goes wrong when Tommy visits the prison for the last time.And as his friends, foes, and acquaintances find out, their entire world darkens.BIG TRIGGER WARNING: blood, character death, trauma, grief, manipulation, PTSD, claustrophobia, graphic descriptions of injuries and a corpse, depression, anxiety, fear, insensitivity/apathyThis is mostly canon, but I interpreted a few scenes on my own, like how Sam discovers what happened to Tommy while he was investigating the explosions, as well as the millions of thoughts going through Tubbo's mind when he finds out.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Sapnap & TommyInnit, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Cara | CaptainPuffy & Dream SMP Ensemble, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Darryl Noveschosch & Sapnap, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Dream SMP Ensemble & Dream SMP Ensemble, Dream SMP Ensemble & Ranboo, Dream SMP Ensemble & TommyInnit, Jack Manifold & Niki | Nihachu, Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Ranboo & Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Sam | Awesamdude & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, all platonic except karl/sapnap/big q, just some karlnapity, no uncomfortable ships
Series: my dream smp fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2194086
Comments: 1
Kudos: 119





	1. Chapter 1

Tommy doesn’t exactly know why he continues to visit Dream. He despises the cramped obsidian box that feels like a tomb, he despises the man inside of it, and he despises the way his chest gradually tightens when he’s in there, until breathing becomes impossible and he has to call for Sam, the warden. He despises everything about the visits, from the painful, harrowing protocols to the inevitable conversations with the psychopath who left him scarred.

He’s not there because he cares about the bastard; he quite frankly doesn’t give a shit what happens to him as long as he stays locked up.

It’s more of a reassurance to himself, seeing the man who ruined his life shut away in an impenetrable box, unable to hurt anyone else ever again. It’s Tommy’s reminder that Dream didn’t win. Even if the fucker haunts him every waking and sleeping hour, he’s locked away in the most secure place on the entire server. He’s trapped in there for the rest of his miserable life, and they’re all free.

Tommy is free.

But he doesn’t feel free. Dream may not be there to destroy his things, threaten his friends, steal everyone’s treasured possessions, but it still feels like he’s pulling the strings. Just his voice triggers a flood of memories that, if dwelled on, could consume Tommy. Even locked away in Pandora’s Vault, completely alone, Dream is somehow more in control than Tommy will ever be.

_No, he’s not,_ Tommy chides himself. _That’s fucking ridiculous. He’s locked away. He isn’t in control at all. Not anymore. Never again. He’s lost all his power. He is nothing._

“You’re a terrible man! Alright?” His voice is beginning to rise. _He’s in here, and I’m not. Well, I am currently in here, but I’m just visiting. He’s in here forever._

Dream sighs, running a hand through his shaggy mess of dirty-blond hair so it flops over his cracking mask. The top of his head nearly brushes the ceiling, and purple particles from the crying obsidian drip onto him, beading on his mask and clinging to his hair like dew. “I did bad things---”

“You’re a bad guy. You’re a wrong’un.”

“Well, everybody thinks they’re right from their perspective. Like I---”

“That’s not true.” _I rarely know if I’m right._ Dream glances at him with the hint of a smirk, as if he knows how often Tommy doubts and second-guesses himself. “That’s not true,” Tommy repeats.

Dream cocks his head, mask slipping to reveal one green eye that seems to glow like a feline’s. “Well… I think I’m right.” _Of course you do, you egotistical bastard._ “I did bad things, but I did them for good reasons. But---”

Tommy scoffs. “What do you mean, ‘good reasons’? You’re a psychopath.”

“Yeah, I did bad things and I’ve learned that I shouldn’t have done them---”

“No, wh-what ‘good reasons’? No, please, please, enlighten us.” _Us? It’s just me and Dream._ “Please, enlighten me!” He’s so used to his best friend always being there. _I wonder how Tubbo is doing._

“I just wanted to… bring the server together.” Dream pulls his mask down so it covers everything but his slashing grin, and crying obsidian droplets roll off the surface like tears, leaving faint lavender streaks. “Have it be… a happy family, y’know?”

Tommy suspected Dream was growing more unstable during his last visit, when the man showed an almost childlike fascination with the clock that used to be in his cell. Now, his former object of entertainment is missing from the wall, and Dream hasn’t mentioned it once.

But this is a whole new level of madness.

“Br-Bring the server to---” Tommy cracks his knuckles, shaking his head. “You---you blew up L’Manburg, Dream. Y-You---you tried killing me, you tried killing everyone, you tried hurting people’s loved ones, man! It’s like what the--- what the fuck?! You’re delusional, man, and I’m--- I’m fucking sick of it!” _I’m going to end this. I’m never coming back here again._ “I’m fucking sick of it,” he repeats calmly, “but I don’t--- I don’t need to go through any of this stress anymore, alright? Because this is me doing this to me now, not you, alright?”

It’s true. Dream didn’t make him come here. Tommy chose to visit him. _He has no control over what I do. I don’t need to keep visiting._

_I’m not going to keep visiting. This is it._

“You’re fine now, you’re locked up, you’re a bitch. I’m the one that’s giving me the stress here now, but I’m better than that. I’m better than you, alright? So I’m done here.” Tommy releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding. _Dream’s fucked up so much for me, but this is my life. I’m here of my own free will. I’m free. He can’t make me do anything._

_Never again._

“You ruined my past, Dream, but you will not ruin my future.” _My friends are waiting for me. He’s locked away. It’s time to forget him and focus on what matters. No more wars, no more bloodshed, no more betrayal and terror and trauma and grief._

“I-I-I’m not--- Tommy, I’m trying to change and be better and not… be the same person I was and it doesn’t…” He fiddles with his mask, adjusting it to show his blank expression, which is basically a second mask. “Y-You can visit me, like, every now and then, right? It’ll help.” Dream’s words may be manipulative, trying to garner pity and forgiveness, but the desperation in his voice is genuine. He wants to get out of here, and unfortunately, Tommy knows him well enough to know that when Dream wants something, he will stoop to any level to get it. “It’ll help,” the prisoner repeats with a smile that is somehow both innocent and terrifying. “Right? It’ll help me… be better.”

_Even I wasn’t this desperate when I was exiled. He’d get on his knees and beg if I told him to._ The idea of Dream abandoning his pride is amusing, but Tommy would much rather just end this bullshit for good. _It’s time to leave._

“Fuck off, mate,” he mutters to the older man. Tommy doesn’t have a silver tongue, and he’s glad. Eloquence isn’t necessary to make his point clear. Bluntness has always worked best. “Yo-You’re a f--- You’re a loser. Cause you lost, bitch.”

_Time to be free._

He looks directly at Dream. “I’m done here. I’m---”

“Forever?”

_Of course he has the fucking nerve to interrupt me._ Tommy cracks his knuckles again. _It doesn’t matter. He can’t do anything. I’m never coming back. I’m free._

“This is it. Alright? Goodbye.” He turns to face the lava at the entrance to the too-small cell.

_Free._

An explosion rattles through the prison, followed by several more in quick succession.

“What the fuck was that?” Tommy spins around, scanning the cell, but it’s just the same obsidian walls, particles dripping from the areas tinged more violet, staining his red and white shirt. Dream hasn’t moved nor spoken. “What the fuck was that?” the boy demands again.

“Sounded like TNT.”

Tommy swallows past the tightness in his throat. “Why would TNT be--- That was a lot--- That was a lot of TNT. That was a lot of TNT! What the fuck?”

_I need to get out of here. I’m done here. Get me out._

“Okay. I’m out.” He runs back toward the lava wall. “Sam!” he shouts, panic creeping into his voice. “Sam? _Sam_!” The walls are starting to cave in on him, and his heart is pounding like it’s about to rip out of his chest. “SAM!”

He’s answered by more explosions, close enough to Dream’s cell that Tommy can feel the entire room shudder.

“What the fuck? What the fuck?” Tommy shuffles towards the front of the cell, slightly further away from the blasts. “What the fuck? What was that?” His voice breaks. _Get me out. Get me out of here. I need to get out. Out. Out. Get me out._

“Sounds like TNT is blowing up,” Dream comments, so calm that he could be talking about the weather.

“Why is he--- why?” Tommy glances up again, flinching when a purple drop lands on his cheek. The ceiling seems to have lowered a few inches. _It’s about to collapse. It’s going to collapse on me and I’ll be stuck. Buried alive._

Dream looks around the cell, arching a golden-brown brow. “I don’t know. Sounds like a security issue---”

“SAM!” Tommy yells again, clenching his trembling fingers into fists. _Out. Out. I need out._ “Sam, I’m ready! I’m ready to leave! We’re done!” He turns to Dream one last time. “Dream, it hasn’t been an honor knowing you. But it will be an honor forgetting you.” His words are punctuated by more explosions, even closer. “What the fuck? Holy shit!” He darts toward the back of the cell, where the ceiling is slightly raised, and the suffocating pressure in his lungs lessens.

_Breathe. Sam’s about to come get me. I’ll be out of here soon._

He sneaks a glance at Dream, but the smiley-face mask is back on, and all he can see is the grim line of his mouth and the muscle flickering in his clenched jaw.

“I have no idea.” Dream’s voice is casual, almost bored, but there’s a hint of interest. _This must be the most exciting thing that’s happened since he was locked up._

“What’s going on here?” Tommy inhales sharply before rushing back toward the lava entrance. The ceiling may be lower, but this doorway is his only way out. “Sam!” he calls again and again. “Sam! Sam? I’m ready to leave--- I want to leave! I am done here!”

_Get me out get me out get me out get me out._

“He would have heard you the first ten times, Tommy! He’s not there,” Dream tells him, exasperated.

“Well, I saw him. I saw---” Tommy stops, his vision fuzzy. “What the fuck is going on.” More explosions. The outline of what looks like a guardian mob flashes in front of him. “What the fuck--- I’m seeing shit.” The room warps, the walls molding tighter around him as the cell rattles and shakes. He moves back toward the higher ceiling, the floor vibrating under his feet.

“Hmm.” Dream really does sound disinterested.

“What? What? What the fuck do you mean, ‘hmm’?” Tommy demands. “Do you have any weapons in here?” He takes the item frame off the wall, muttering to himself. _I’m gonna get out of here. Sam will get me out of here._

“It’s just interesting,” replies Dream. Tommy frowns at him.

“What do you mean it’s int--- what do you mean it--- what?”

“Because the TNT’s exploding. That sounds like a security problem.”

“Why---” Tommy stops. _Oh. A security problem at the prison is good news for its only inhabitant._ “What do you mean--- let me out! Sam! Sam, seriously!”

“Sam’s not here. Sam is not here,” Dream laughs mirthlessly. _He’s laughing at this? I’m gonna kill that bastard._

“I don’t--- I--- Let me the fuck out!” Tommy cries, as more blasts go off. Then, it goes silent. “What the fuck is going on.” An unfamiliar noise echoes outside, like the call of some strange animal. “What are these sounds, man?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know any more than you do.”

“Let me out. Tell Sam to let me out.” Tommy paces the cell, knuckles white from clutching the item frame. _It’s shrinking. I swear to God it’s shrinking. I have to get out._ “Do you have an emergency button you can press one of those people like they have in toilets that you pull when you’re shitting yourself--- SAM!”

Dream rubs his temples with a groan. “Sam is dealing with the security issue.”

“What does that mean?”

“It _means_ ," Dream says with exaggerated patience, "that you could be stuck in here for a little bit.”

“No. No.” _That’s not going to happen. I am not going to be trapped in a little box with Dream. I shouldn’t be here. I never should have come. I need to get out. Get me out._ He runs toward the lava, passing over the lowered netherite wall. “Alright, pull up this border, pull up this border. I don’t--- Sam, seriously, I want to leave now, Sam---”

“Tommy---”

“This isn’t funny!” _Get me out of here, Sam, please, get me out._

“Tommy, you signed a book---I know you signed a book because I’m the one who wrote it---that said if there’s a security issue going on, then you can--- You signed a waiver that you could be in here for up to a week.”

_No._ “What--- what the fuck?!”

“That sounded like a security issue to me. I don’t know if you agree, but---”

“What was it?!”

Dream massages his head again, sighing. “I don’t know. A security issue.”

“Let me out.” Tommy’s hands are trembling so violently that he drops the item frame. His lungs won’t expand enough. “I-I can’t be in here for a week! I’ve got my hotel to run, I need to go spend time wi-with my pals, man, I’m getting back on--- No. No no no no. Let me out.” He runs to the cell entrance, ready to jump into the lava just to escape this little box and the man in here with him.

_Where’s Phil? He’ll get me out of here._

“PHIL? PHIL!”

_Phil, please._

Dream’s suddenly beside him. “If you have a way to get out, then let’s get out together. We can--- we can find it, we can work it out---”

_You’re kidding me? He thinks I’m going to help him?_

“Fuck. Off.” _Where is Phil? Where’s my dad?_

Dream looks down at him. “Well, then there’s no way out.”

_Bullshit. There has to be a way out. I can’t be stuck in here. I won’t be stuck in a little box with the man who hurt me and everyone I care about._

Tommy hurries over to the small pool of water in the corner and peers up at the dropper mechanism. _There’s got to be a way out. I’m going to find it, and Dream isn’t coming with me._

Dream’s already right behind him, also examining the dropper with his mask pushed aside to cover half of his face.

“What do yo---” Tommy stares at him. “Dream, what the fuck is going on.”

“I have some potatoes if you want some,” is all the masked man says, handing a few small, brown lumps to Tommy.

“I don’t want your fucking potatoes, man!” Tommy pockets a couple of potatoes. “I’m gonna beat the shit out of him,” he mutters. “W-what’s going on? Tell me.”

Dream grits his teeth. “I don’t know. I---”

“Really? Shut the fuck up.” Tommy throws a potato at Dream, hitting him in the chest. “Look at---”

“How would I know? I’m in here! How would I---”

“Look at me in the eyes---”

“I’m in the prison!” Dream shouts. He slides his mask off his face, emerald eyes meeting simmering blue. “Tommy, I have no idea what’s going on. I-I’m--- How would I even know? I’m locked in a room.”

“No. No, this doesn’t just happen.” Tommy steps back, looking up at the ceiling again. “I don’t enter here as soon as explosions go off. This isn’t--- this isn’t how you operate, man, and I know you, alright? Other people--- everyone thinks they don’t know you, and you know what? I see people talking about--- I see BadBoyHalo talking about how you’ve changed, and how they all feel sorry for you--- _ooh, maybe we should let him out_ \--- shut up, alright? I know you. You haven’t changed. You’re the fucking monster of this server, alright? Not the egg, not _anything_ like this. _You are_. Alright?”

And for a moment, Dream, silver-tongued, bluffer, master planner, omniscient, all-powerful Dream has nothing to say.

Tommy stares out at the lava. “I can’t be in here. I-I seriously---”

“Tommy, I’ve changed. I’ve changed, Tommy. I’m try---I’m trying to change.”

“SAM!”

“He’s not gonna reply to you, Tommy. That sounded like a lot of TNT! He’s dealing with… I don’t even know. He’s dealing with something, clearly. And he’s probably not gonna be back for a little bit.”

“What the fuck are you telling me.” _Sam, where are you?_

“I’m telling you that you and me are stuck in here together for a little while, until whatever is going on is fixed---”

“No! No, I can’t be in here with you. You know I don’t… You know I don’t--- I don’t---” _I don’t do well with small spaces. Especially small spaces that I’m stuck in with the worst person in the fucking world._

Dream rolls his eyes. “It doesn’t matter if you can’t or you can! You have to, because there’s no way out. Just like there’s no way out for me, there’s no way out for you---”

“No, no, th-the reason I’m here is to… see you for one final time, because I can’t stand being in your presence, because you fucking ruin things!” Tommy takes a breath. “Why was that TNT going off?”

“I don’t know,” Dream repeats irritably. “You’re acting like I would know. I’m in a prison. How am I supposed to--- how am I supposed to know about TNT blowing up? What do I know?”

“You’re trying--- no, you mentioned it. Are you trying to get out?”

Dream closes his eyes for a brief moment. “I’m not trying to get out,” he informs Tommy, but the boy shakes his head in disbelief.

“Sam, I want to leave the cell.” _Where the fuck is he? What the fuck is happening?_ “Sam?”

Dream lets out a chuckle. “Go on, yell. Go ahead, yell ‘ _Sam_ ’. Plead.” His eyes glitter dangerously, darkening to almost black.

Tommy approaches the lava wall. “Sam?” He turns to look up at Dream. “What are you telling me, then?”

“I’m telling you that you’re stuck in here for a little while, with me. But we can bond, we can talk, just like old times, right? Stuck together? You know, just like exile?”

Tommy’s throat constricts. “Fuck you,” he snaps, throwing another potato at Dream. “Fuck you.” He grabs the item frame from the floor where he dropped it and hits the older man in the head, but Dream doesn’t retaliate or even react. “Don’t you ever fucking mention exile to me, alright?”

_Is this happening? Am I going crazy, or is he just completely unaffected?_

“Something’s fucking going on,” Tommy mumbles, mostly to himself. _I need someone to talk to other than him._

“Well,” Dream muses, “I mean, you only have one life left, so… you--- you die in here, then you die. Right?”

_No. I am not going to die in here._ “Yeah, I know. I f--- I know.”

“Okay, so let’s just be friendly, alright? Let’s not hit each other and… whatever?”

_So you can talk to me about one of the worst experiences of my life, but I can’t throw potatoes at you? The fuck?_

“Fuck you, bitch, fuck you bitch. I’ll hit the shit out of you! I’ll--- I don’t want to be your company, alright? I want to be nothing like you! I want to actually hit you! When I see people that look like you, I stab them! I--- oh no, no, no.”

_Calm down, Tommy,_ he can hear Wilbur say. _Breathe. Just chill out a bit._

“Tommy, this is the best thing that’s happened to me since I got in the prison.”

“No! This isn’t the best thing that’s happened to you! You were the worst thing that’s happened to not just me, but this server!” The walls are closing in again. “Let me out. Let me out! LET ME OUT!”

“Since I entered the prison, this is the best---”

“Stop talking. Stop talking, stop talking.” Tommy slaps his hands over his ears. “La la la la la!” _Wilbur would say you’re acting like a toddler._

He can still hear Dream. “We can be company--- We can---”

“I will not be your company. I will not be with you.” _Get me out get me out get me out of here. Please, someone. Sam? Phil? Tubbo? Will? Even Techno. Just get me out of here. I need to get out._

“We can stay in here together, and we can write books together---”

“No, let me out, let me out!”

_I need to get Sam’s attention, but he can’t hear me. Will he hear Dream?_

Tommy throws open the lid of the chest and pulls out a couple of Dream’s books, both titled ‘ _thank you!_ ’ and carefully bound with red thread. Ignoring Dream, he tosses them both into the lava, watching the pages begin to curl and blacken before the books sink out of sight. Heat emanates from the curtain of lava, wrapping around him like a blanket.

“ _What?!_ Tommy!” Dream protests.

“Fuck you, fuck you.” Tommy grabs another pile of books, dodging Dream when he tries to block him. “Sam will let me out if he hears you making a panic. Let. Me---”

“No, no, no, Tommy, Tommy, _wait_ \---”

“No!” Tommy hurls the books into the lava. “You’re an idiot, Dream, you’re a fucking idiot.” He pulls a potato from his pocket and bites into it, grimacing at the bland, raw taste. Dream eats some potatoes and hands Tommy a few more. _Can I hit him with both of these if I throw them at the same time? Will it even do anything?_

Tommy stares at the lava falling over the doorway, the fiery glow lining his hair with gold. “What’s happening?” he asks quietly, his voice breaking.

Dream sighs again. “Tommy, how would I know? If I was escaping, I’d be gone, I’d be out of here. I’m not escaping. I-I don’t know--- I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know why the TNT went off.”

“Dream, fucking stop it, now.” This time, Tommy punches him in the shoulder, which hurts him a lot more than Dream. His shoulder may as well be carved from stone. Dream steps into the little pool of water and Tommy punches him again, ignoring his throbbing hand. “Yeah, shit in your little shit pond,” Tommy mutters, throwing the item frame into the lava.

“It’ll just be replaced, Tommy,” Dream reminds him.

“No. No, no no. I’m leaving.” _There’s got to be a way. There’s a chest, a lectern, a cauldron, water, glowstone---_

“How? Tell me, please, I would like to know. How are you--- how can I leave? How are---”

“Shut up!” Tommy snaps. “Shut up, shut up. Stop talking! Stop it.” He hits Dream again, pushing him closer to the lava. _It would be so fucking easy to get rid of him._

_But the revival book…_ Tommy buries his face in his hands.

“Here, why don’t you write--- take a book.” Dream hands him a blank book and a pen. “Write some stuff in it. Write a story, maybe? Maybe… maybe you could work on ‘How to Sex 9’ or something. I’m not giving you another one,” he warns.

Tommy hurls the book over his shoulder, delighting in the hissing sound when it hits lava. “Let me fucking out! Fuck you! Fuck you, bitch! Fuck you! I know that this is you! I know that this is you!” he shouts over Dream.

“How is it me? Explain. Explain, how is it me?” Dream demands.

“Because I fucking come in here as the TNT goes off, telling you this is my final time. I’m done, I’m done here, alright? I’m done with you, and I’m not going to talk to you.”

Dream nods. “Fine, you’re done with me in a couple of days, then, when you get out of here finally.”

“A coup--- I don’t have a couple days!” Tommy protests. _The hotel, my friends, Sam Nook…_

“You have a couple of days because you have to.”

Tommy meets his gaze, and repeats forcefully, “I don’t have a couple days.”

“It doesn’t matter. I mean, you’re stuck in here just like I am. Yo-You’re not any less stuck than I am. There’s nothing you can do.” Tommy glares at him, but Dream doesn’t back down.

“You’re not changed, at all,” the younger boy tells him bitterly.

“I’ve changed, Tommy! You just don’t want to believe it. I didn’t have anything to do with the TNT going off.”

“Fuck you, man.” _You have something planned, and I won’t let you do it. I need to get out of here._ “Seriously. Seriously, fuck you. You’ve ruined this. I don’t wanna--- I don’t wanna speak to you, I don’t wanna get to know you anymore. You’ve not changed. You’re the same old--- You’re evil! You’re just evil.”

Sam’s voice blares into the cell like the voice of God. “ _You’re going to have to hang tight, Tommy. The prison is on lockdown. There has been a security issue_.”

Tommy’s heart drops as if it’s made of cobblestone. “What?”

“That’s what I was saying,” Dream hums.

“SAM!”

Dream groans. “No, he’s not--- He’s not here. He---”

“SAM!”

“He’s not here!” Dream repeats. Tommy smacks him hard enough to leave a red handprint on his emotionless face. “How are you going to talk to him if he’s not anywhere near here? He’s dealing with the issue.” Dream munches on a potato and offers another to Tommy.“You need to eat, Tommy.”

Tommy takes it grudgingly. _Stupid green bitch._

“I don’t have that many potatoes left, so we’re gonna have to wait until eventually we get more potato refills from here.” He points up at the dropper above the tiny pool.

Tommy polishes off three potatoes. _We might starve to death? How the fuck did this happen? What’s happening?_

“How long will it be?” he asks Dream.

“You signed the waiver saying up to a week, and I wrote that waiver, so I’m guessing up to a week.”

“A week,” Tommy echoes numbly.

“Tommy, it’s not that bad. Like, we can--- we have tons of time to… bond, alright?”

“I don’t want to _bond_ . I wanna go home. This rule is dumb. This is all dumb. You’re dumb. Let me out _now_. This is---” Dream sighs, and Tommy balls his hands into fists. “This is fucking dumb. You’re dumb, alright? You’re evil, and you’re---”

“Tommy, you’re being dumb!” Dream snaps. “You’re being dumb. You’re stuck in here with me whether you like it or not, okay? Whether you like it or not, you are in here with me, for a while. We’re gonna talk---”

“No, no, we’re not gon---”

“---we’re gonna have lots of fun---”

“No, no, this wasn’t the plan, Dream! The plan was to get out---” He's shouting now.

“Do you remember when we had fun together? Do you remember when we had fun together, Tommy? We’re having lots of fun in here together for a whole week, okay? A whole week! Me and you, back to back. Again, just like old times, right?”

Tommy stares out at the bubbling lava, then looks at Dream incredulously, but he doesn’t say a word.

“Tommy, look. You’re in here. You’re in here. And I’ve changed, okay? I’ve changed. I’ve changed. You’re in here with me.”

The heat from the lava is no longer warm and comforting. It’s hot, suffocating in the cramped cell. Obsidian retains heat far too well. _How is Dream barefoot?_ Tommy knows without touching it that the floor is scalding hot. He can feel the heat through the soles of his sneakers.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Am I… is this serious?” The older man doesn’t respond. “Dream?”

“Yes,” Dream says exasperatedly.

“I was about to be done.” Tommy squeezes his eyes shut. _I’m so tired of this. Why does nothing ever go how it’s supposed to?_ He sighs. 

_I thought we won. But no, instead, I’m trapped with him. Again. I’m alone with Dream._

“Do you have any more potatoes?” Dream silently passes him some potatoes, and Tommy exhales shakily. “Well… guess I gotta tough through this week.” He somehow manages to keep his voice steady. “A week,” he repeats, more to himself. “A week.”

Dream crosses his arms. “It could be a week; it could be shorter. I don’t know.”

“Could it be longer?” Tommy dares to ask. Sweat beads on his face, plastering his hair to his forehead.

“No, it can’t.”

_Okay._ "Sev-seven days,” he chokes out. _I can’t breathe._ He glances at Dream. “And you’re gonna be in here the whole time.”

Dream snorts. “Yes. Where else would I go? I’m gonna fairy dust poof out of here?”

_I’m trapped in here. With him._

“Oh, fuck.” Tommy pushes his damp hair out of his sticky face. “No, I’ve gotta go. I’ve gotta go. I can’t---” He looks at Dream again. _A week. With him. Alone._ “I can’t do this,” he whispers. _Don’t cry. He does not get to see you cry. Don’t give him that._ “Oh, no.”

_I’m stuck in a little box with Dream for a week._

_A week. Seven days._

Deep in the back of his mind, Tommy knows that only one of them will escape the prison alive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam returns to check on Tommy, like he's done every couple of hours for the past week. He immediately knows that something isn't right.
> 
> MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING: blood, graphic descriptions of injury and dead body, child's death, overall creepy vibe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> awesamdude describes it differently when Ranboo confronts him about what happened, but I started writing this before that stream, and this is how I imagine Sam finding out.
> 
> reminder: this is really dark.
> 
> (i’m going through and fixing the formatting since pasting from my drive fucks it up)

When Sam returns to check in on Tommy, he hears shouting. That’s to be expected. Tommy and Dream don’t get along very well, and they’re both pretty stubborn and argumentative.

When the warden enters the main cell of the prison, it goes silent. 

He can’t hear any voices. 

With Dream, that’s normal. He’s a bitter, twisted man, only willing to speak to gain an advantage. He’s stubborn, angry, and shattered. And his shards are sharp enough to draw blood with just a whisper of a touch.

But for Tommy, silence is unheard of.

During his visits to the prison, the British boy is constantly making noise. Sam suspects that if he didn’t, he might completely break down while he’s in the cell with Dream. If he could, he would give Tommy a better way to visit, where he’s not surrounded by layers of obsidian and lava, but since the prisoner is Dream, that’s not an option.

But now, he can’t hear Tommy taunting and insulting Dream. The kid isn’t yammering on freely about random shit, a habit that Sam has noticed is a type of coping mechanism, perhaps to counter his suffocating claustrophobia. He’s not complaining, bickering, or even humming to distract himself.

The absence of his rowdy, unmistakable voice is almost as eerie as the faint laughter that Sam can barely hear over the bubbling lava.

His throat constricts, and he forces himself to inhale slowly. _I can’t panic. I have a job to do._

_Something’s wrong. I need to get over there. But I can’t use the bridge, or Dream might escape. I can’t shut off the lava. I need to go through it._

Sam rifles through the supplies on his belt, cursing under his breath. _Where is it?_

Finally, his gloved fingers close around a tiny vial of shimmering golden liquid. He pops the cork and downs half of it, barely reacting to the fleeting burn in his throat, then drains a similar bottle of blue liquid.

He dives into the lava without hesitation, streamlining through it like an arrow. Flames lick at him, but the only feeling is a slight tingle where his armor heats up, like an oven around him.

Within seconds, he reaches Pandora’s Vault. The laughter has ceased, and the silence is heavier than ever.

“Tommy?” Sam is careful to keep his voice steady, a hand on the hilt of the sword at his side. “You alright, kid?”

No answer. _Maybe he fell asleep. He has been in here for a week. He must be exhausted._

_Tommy could never sleep in there,_ another voice whispers to him. He knows it’s true. The boy can barely sleep in his own bed at his house. It would be impossible for him to relax when he’s trapped in a small cell with his enemy.

“You’re back.” The voice is low and velvety, soft as silk when rubbed one way, but rough the other. The outline of a tall, lean figure emerges from the darkness. _Dream._

“I am.” The warden scans the cell. _Where’s the kid? He couldn’t have gotten out. Dream would have escaped, too._

Something’s different. _It’s darker in here than I remember._ The only light in the cell emanates from his own armor, and two piles of faintly luminescent dust, strewn across the floor. _They broke the glowstone? That must have taken ages._

“Took you long enough.” Dream’s clothes rustle as he stretches lazily, releasing a low sigh. His eyes glint, the mask pulled aside enough to show the blank, bored expression on his dirty face. “Did you solve the issue?”

Sam doesn’t answer him. _Tommy? Where are you?_ He fixes Dream with a stony stare. “I see you got rid of the glowstone.”

“I did.” The prisoner raises his hands, coated in gold dust. His ragged fingernails are crescented with reddish-brown, his knuckles and fingertips a raw, angry crimson. _He broke it with his bare hands. He hit it and clawed at it until it disintegrated._ Sam has seen a lot of madness and desperation, but somehow, Dream still manages to surprise him. “Kind of fucked up my hands in the process.” His tone is light, airy, but there’s a hint of warning. Sam’s muscles tense. _He’s not telling me something._

“That’s your own fault,” the warden informs him, not missing the way Dream’s back stiffens ever-so-slightly. 

_Where the hell is Tommy?_ Sam steps past Dream, sliding his flashlight off his belt. His boot collides with something soft, and he freezes, sweeping the flashlight down to see.

_Tommy?_

Old, once-white sneakers with sloppily knotted black laces. Khaki pants, streaked with a rust-colored substance.

Grimy, worn white shirt with a faded red collar and sleeves. _Tommy? Are you asleep?_

Skinny arms marred with various white scars, ashy skin smudged with dull purple, red, and brown. Limp, slender hands with curled fingers. A pale, unmoving throat with a prominent Adam’s apple, lined with yellow and violet splotches.

_No. No. He’s just sleeping. He’s just---_

The light spills over a familiar but not familiar face, and Sam’s legs give out. _No._ His knees hit the floor, the flashlight dangling precariously from his shaking hand.

_No, no, no._

A curving square jawline permanently set in opposition. A round, indented chin, bruises blooming across it. Pearly teeth, each dotted with bright white where braces used to be, peeking out from pink lips parted in mid-speech.

A crooked nose crusted with dried blood, slightly upturned at the tip. Bold, expressive brows, a few shades darker than the matted and bloodstained golden hair that isn’t thick enough to cover the awful dent in his skull, right above his left ear. _He must have gotten knocked out. That’s why_

Wide, unblinking blue eyes framed by long, golden lashes stare up at Sam.

“Tommy?” He doesn’t even register that he’s spoken aloud.

_His eyes are open. He must be awake, then. Right? Maybe he’s just thinking._

As always, the boy’s stare is a bit unnerving, but it’s not _right._ Tommy’s eyes aren’t steady, full of defiance. They’re distant, looking past him, seeing _through_ him.

The azure orbs that have become so familiar to Sam are glazed, like a wispy cloud against the summer sky. 

_He’s sleeping with his eyes open. Some people do that._

Sam’s eyes burn. _What am I doing? He isn’t sleeping. He isn’t even breathing._ His head spins, trying to wrap around this impossible sight in front of him. _Maybe I’m sleeping, then. Wake up._ He closes his eyes and pinches the exposed bit of skin between his glove and armguard as hard as he can. _Snap out of it._ His eyes fly open. The nightmare hasn’t disappeared. This nightmare is real. _It actually happened. He’s not sleeping._ He rips off a glove.

The warden reaches out a trembling hand to the kid, pressing two fingers to his wrist. He shudders at the waxiness of Tommy’s skin, as if he’s a mannequin. _This can’t be real. He must have a pulse._

Nothing. He tries the other wrist, then his neck. No warmth, no movement. Sam puts his ear against Tommy’s motionless chest.

Nothing at all.

Sam whirls on Dream, who is leaning against the wall, eating a potato. “Where is he.” His tone is flat, not a question, but an order. “Where is Tommy.”

Dream chews thoughtfully and swallows, his eyes lively and dark. “You’re right next to him.”

“Where is he _._ ” Sam reaches the prisoner in two strides, seizing his shirt collar and shoving him against the wall. “ _Where is he?_ ” he demands.

Dream smiles. “Well, he’s not in heaven.”

Sam twists his shirt, tightening the fabric around Dream’s neck like a noose. “ _What did you do._ ”

“Me?” He sounds genuinely surprised, but Sam knows it’s all part of the mask. “I’ve been waiting for you to get him out of here. He’s really annoying, constantly asking the same stupid questions.” He pitches his voice higher, slipping into a mock British accent. “‘ _What’s happening? What’s that noise? How long will I be in here? Sam? Where’s Phil? Phil! I want my daddy!’”_ Dream’s smile twists. “Listening to him was hell.” He meets Sam’s gaze. “So I shut him up.”

“You---” Sam’s mouth opens and shuts, unable to form words.

Dream chuckles, unfazed by the hand at his throat. “Oh, Sam, don’t sound so surprised. What did you think was going to happen? We were stuck in here for a week! I honestly can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner.”

“I---”

“In a way,” Dream muses, putting a finger to his lips, “it was kind of your fault. You really thought it was safe to let him visit me, and come into my room?”

Sam’s grip tightens, then goes slack. _I didn’t think you would do it. I didn’t think you would kill him._

Dream gestures to the lowered netherite gate. “You didn’t think to keep the barrier up? We were _enemies_ , Sam. We wanted to kill each other. But you thought your protocols were enough. You thought some fucking _rules_ you created were enough to stop me. It was so easy to slam his head into the wall until he fell.” Dream’s voice is sickeningly wistful. “He always was so fragile, even for a kid. So full of cracks, always getting closer to breaking with each new horror. The control room, exile, the destruction of his nation, nearly losing his best friend, being abandoned by his family… It was only a matter of time before I finally finished shattering him.”

_He’s right. I was stupid. I’m the warden. I let a prisoner murder a visitor. I messed up._

_I left a traumatized child in a cell with his own abuser. I wanted him to find closure, to be able to move on with his life. He was almost at that point, almost ready. And now…_

_How could I let this happen?_

The stoic expression he always maintains slips away. Dream watches, his mouth quirking upwards.

_This is my fault. I was ignorant, stupid. I didn’t make another way into the Vault, since a way in is a way out. I didn’t want Dream getting out, so I left Tommy in. That’s the protocol._

_But was it the right thing to do? Is losing one innocent life better than potentially freeing a murderer?_

_I thought nothing could happen to him, since Dream said he needed him. Dream wouldn’t kill him before, and I assumed he still wouldn’t. I didn’t let Tubbo visit because I didn’t think it would be safe. But Tommy… I never thought…_

_I ignored him when he was calling for me. I cared so much about the protocols, and not enough about a terrified kid. He’s claustrophobic, and I left him in there for over a week._

_But was I not supposed to investigate the explosions? I had to. And yet, I still don’t even know what happened. I didn’t do anything right. I didn’t find the source of the explosions. I didn’t save Tommy._

_He died believing I didn’t care about him._

_This is my fault._

Sam releases Dream, missing the triumphant look in his green eyes. “You are never having visitors again,” the warden vows. Dream’s smile falters, and he takes a step back, but the wall is there. Too quickly for the prisoner to react, Sam brings the pommel of his sword down onto his head. Dream drops like a stone, and Sam pushes him away with a boot before kneeling back down beside Tommy.

He stares at the crumpled form on the floor. _When he first came here, he kept talking to me,_ Sam recalls. _He was in the prison, going to visit the man who abused him and tried to kill his best friend. And he was talking so easily with me as if we were attending a concert. He joked about the waiver, and he signed it ‘Big T’._ He doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. _He was making jokes, mostly about women, and trying to have a conversation. He wasn’t afraid, or maybe he hid the fear well._

Tommy sounded very afraid when he was calling out for Sam. _And I didn’t come. I didn’t help him, even though he helped me._

Running the prison is lonely, and Tommy’s visits changed that. The entire place seemed to brighten when he came through the portal. He made it feel so much more _alive_ , filling the silence with idle chatter. Outside of the prison, they spoke occasionally, and it was always nice, but inside, Tommy’s presence was like the sun. He lit up the cold, stone rooms like a crackling campfire, bringing warmth, noise, and life to even the most foreboding place on the server.

_A flame is strong while it’s burning, of course,_ Sam thinks as he cradles Tommy’s bloodied head in his lap, _but the brightest flames flicker._ He smooths the boy’s honey-blond hair back, fluffing it up to hide the holelike wound behind his temple. _And fire is always destined to burn out._

Using two fingers, he gently closes Tommy’s empty eyes. _He could be sleeping._ But while his face is peaceful, expressionless, the bruises and blood marring his body make it clear that he is not sleeping. _He’s not here anymore._

Tommy was a fast-burning flame. And now, like a candle, he’s been snuffed out. Blotted away like the sun, sinking below the horizon and plunging half of the world into darkness.

_But this time, there will be no sunrise._

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter focuses on a different person. Some will be shorter than others.
> 
> This is based on canon, but it's also my own, more realistic interpretation of Tommy's death and everyone's reactions (since it all happens in a freaking block game).
> 
> Please leave a comment or kudos or something if you like it, or give constructive criticism :)


End file.
